Learning Outcomes - Participants will be able to:

• Relate their personal experiences to the ways in which campus cultures and structures inform student learning, development, and success.
• Describe the key features of ecological validation and how it contributes to student learning, development, and success.
• Identify assets and barriers to creating a culture of ecological validation at GVSU.
• Articulate ways they can contribute to building and sustaining a culture of ecological validation at GVSU.

Dr. Rosemary (Rosie) Perez is an Associate Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. She earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences with an additional major in Psychology at the Carnegie Mellon University and her M.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs at The University of Vermont. As a student affairs educator, she worked in housing and residence life at the University of San Francisco and American University before earning her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Perez’s scholarship focuses on undergraduate and graduate student learning, development, and success with the aim of creating more equitable and humanizing campus environments. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, and ACPA-College Student Educators International (ACPA), and often involves research-practice partnerships. Her contributions to higher education and student affairs were recognized with a 2017 ACPA Emerging Scholars Award and 2020 Diamond Honoree Award. Dr. Perez has also been recognized for her contributions to her campus communities and received the 2016 Iowa State University Multicultural Student Affairs Faculty/Staff Change Agent Award, 2019 Iowa State University College of Human Sciences Early Achievement in Teaching Award, and 2022 University of Michigan School of Education Faculty Diversity, Inclusion, Justice, and Equity Award.